It seems cancel culture has become a daily occurrence on social media lately, and unfortunately, it can be all too effective. All it takes is just one person to be offended by something you post, and in no time at all, the mob will come for you. Your inbox will be flooded with hate, and your only options will be to private your account or just outright delete it.
It seemed like that’s what was going to happen to a Japanese artist 長月院 (@humidukiinn005), after another user claimed the artist was breaking Twitter’s Terms Of Service, and also incorrectly stated that it was illegal. Hoping that this would get the account banned, the user also asked for everyone to mass block and report the artist, which ironically seems to be against Twitter’s Terms of Service.
Fortunately, though, this call-to-action was not well received, and the anime fandom community refused to oust one of their own, just on the behalf of one person. It also seemed to blow up in the complainant’s face, with most commenters pointing out the fact that he’s the one that should be reported and not the artist, some going as far as to report the complainant himself for harassment.
And in an unlikely turn of events, which I’m sure he never expected, multiple users also thanked the complainant for ”recommending a good artist for them to follow”. These comments also seemed to garner a good amount of likes themselves.
One user decided to write the artist a message, and then translate it into Japanese, to let him know that there was someone out there trying to get his account taken down for no reason. Other users decided to reach out to him, to let him know they supported him, and to never give in to the people trying to cancel him. One admirable user (YeOlDoggo) decided to fight back and went as far as to put out a tweet promoting him and his work, while also making it clear that there was an unjust effort being made to censor him. That tweet has 175 likes and 40 retweets at the time of writing, so having him censored didn’t work out so well for the complainant, huh?
The artist did eventually respond and thanked everyone for their support, while also proclaiming to keep drawing what he wants to draw.
I’m glad to see that free speech isn’t completely dead on social media, and it’s important to remember that it’s art. Art can sometimes be divisive, not everyone is going to enjoy it. Even if you may find it in poor taste, someone else might find it to be truly beautiful. I think everyone already knows how we feel about censorship here on Nyannet, but if you’re new or need a refresher then listen up. Censorship has been on the rise throughout the years and in truth, it just stifles development. If you continue to censor everything that is remotely sensitive or unsettling, what do you end up with? Nothing. If you happen to come across art that really bothers you, instead of calling for it to be censored, just move on and look at something else. Or have an actual discussion, try to understand other view points and grow your own.
These are all much better alternative than trying to form a hate mob against an artist, accidentally turning that hate mob on yourself, and then unintentionally drumming up a lot of support for that artist. Honestly, I think Shizu here said it best.
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